Thursday, June 18, 2009

Young Muslim Alcoholics

Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Did the title shock you? Well, it should. I was reading this news article about the increasing number of young girls drinking in London. Girls as young as 11-15 are participating in this habit. Studies have shown that drinking affects the ladies in far worse ways than it does to men. In the article, they mention:

"London assembly's report also revealed that young people from the Muslim communities are now drinking far more.""This raises concern that these recent increases could be the start of an ongoing trend."The London's scrutinizing body also warned that the phenomenon among the Muslim community has its complications. "Because alcohol is not a part of the traditional culture in these communities, young Pakistani and Bangladeshi Londoners may be more likely to conceal their alcohol misuse, and may be less likely to seek help for alcohol misuse."Their parents and carers may be less equipped to identify problem drinking, and less informed about what to do if their child is misusing alcohol, or develops a dependence on alcohol."

Does that make you wonder about the situation in our community? Do you have friends or know of friends who drink? Since clubbing and pub-crawling has increased in popularity and has become one of the major options when it comes to entertainment in recent years, this also means an increase in exposure to alcoholic beverage to those youths who enga [...]